Inauguration May Lack Sufficient Restrooms and Violate Potty Parity // Federal Government Could Even Be Guilty of Illegal Sex Discrimination

2009-01-10 22:15:11 - Barack Obama's inauguration will almost certainly lack sufficient restrooms in violation of many recognized legal and other standards, according to the International Code Council, Portable Sanitation Association International, American Restroom Association, the Wall Street Journal, and others -- thereby violating what many believe is a fundamental human right, but one generally not recognized by U.S. law.

Even more egregious is that this will disproportionately affect women who will be forced to wait in far longer lines than men contrary to the widely accepted principle of "Potty Parity."

This appears to violate federal and D.C. sex discrimination laws, and even the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf, whose legal complaints of sex discrimination have forced dry cleaners to charge women no more than men to launder shirts, hair cutters to charge both genders the same for a simple haircut, and bars and night clubs to abandon "ladies' nights" under which women were treated differently than men.

Providing only 5000 portable toilets is grossly deficient, even if the Presidential Inaugural Committee's arguably very low estimate of one million attendees is accurate, according to many sources. The Portable Sanitation Association International says 7,500 would be needed to accommodate even a crowd of only one million.

The Wall Street Journal says "One toilet for every 100 people is conservative, compared with other standards. The New York City Marathon last November had one toilet for every 17 runners. The U.S. Army's standard is one commode for every 25 males and one for every 17 females . . . . And the International Code Council requires one toilet for every 40 people at nightclubs, and more than one for every 50 people in an office building."
online.wsj.com/article/SB123145851449666169.html AND blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/fuzzy-inaugural-math-490/

Banzhaf notes that several courts have held that even providing men and women with exactly the same number of restroom facilities may constitute a violation of laws prohibiting gender discrimination because it can have the "effect of consequence" of discriminating against women. Because women take far more time to use a restroom than men, even providing an equal number of portable potties for each gender -- a common practice -- would leave women waiting longer in longer lines.

Thus, as the Wall Street Journal noted: "In keeping with the findings, the International Code Council requires twice as many toilets for women than for men in places of worship (one for every 75 women, one for every 150 men) and nearly twice as many for other types of facilities.

The code has been adopted at the state or local level in 37 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, according to an ICC spokesman. 'It shouldn't matter whether you're in Virginia or Minnesota, in terms of how often you need a toilet,' said Lee Clifton, the code council's director of plumbing programs."

By way of analogy, Banzhaf suggests what would happen if airport security checkpoints had separate lines based upon gender (e.g., staffed by male and female TSA searchers), and for some reason took on the average twice as long to clear male as female passengers.

Men would be outraged, everyone would scream sex discrimination, and the problem would be immediately corrected by adding more male check points, even without waiting for the inevitable litigation. That, basically, is the issue of potty parity for women, says Prof. Banzhaf.

"Forcing women to wait longer and on longer lines than men by failing to provide twice as many restroom for women as for men is not only illegal and inconvenient for women; it can also cause and/or exacerbate many physical and medical problems, especially for older women or those who are pregnant. It can also cause problems for young children who are more likely to be brought to portable toilets on Inauguration Day by mothers than by fathers," says Banzhaf.

"Potty Parity, sometime called "Squatters' Rights" or "Porcelain Proportionality," is sometimes regarded as a joke, but it should not be at the inauguration of a man who promises changes, and has been lauded -- with his professional wife and two daughters -- for his concern about women.

Banzhaf -- somewhat tongue in cheek -- encourages women to continue to complain about being under-privyledged and about the lack of urinequity which often causes them to wait a sheturnity in pee-gatory and suffer assault and bladdery, while men-no-pause and zip in, up, and out of restrooms exercising a male pee-rogative and causing some women real penis envy -- although some call it simply menvy.

PROFESSOR JOHN F. BANZHAF III
Professor of Public Interest Law
George Washington University Law School
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor
FELLOW, World Technology Network
2013 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006, USA
(202) 659-4312 // (703) 527-8418
banzhaf.net